Call centers are service units of commercial businesses designed and aimed to provide services to customers and potential customers over communication channels. The services may include sales, change of service programs, technical support, educating customers, and additional tasks. The services may be provided by automated machines or agent, which are employees of contractors of the commercial business. The communication session with the customer may be performed over an audio conversation, video conversation, text, and a combination of the above. Many call centers are the main contact interface for customers, as well as physical stores. The main difference is that the call centers require less rent fees and can be placed in a remote location, sometimes even in a different country.
The agents communicating with the customers are expected to provide services to the customers rather fast, and the commercial business measures the agents' performance in terms of number of calls per hour or day, as well as the level of customer satisfaction resulted from the communication session. More successful sessions are likely to result in higher salary for the agents. In addition to customer satisfaction, the agents are also expected to sell services to the customer they talk with, such as new devices, new services, additional or more expensive billing programs, and the like. The agents often work according to scripts designed to make the communication sessions shorter while improving the chances of selling to the customer during the communication session.